Thursday
War All The Time
Show Review
If you are reading this trying to determine whether you should buy a ticket to a show, the answer is yes. If you are hoping that this review will suffice in lieu of experiencing a show live - it won’t.
Buy the ticket and go to the show and then catch the next city too. Anything that I write fails to portray the brilliance, talent, and poetic chaos of experiencing the show live.
Thursday has embarked on their War All the Time 20th anniversary tour as they share these songs with us live at 25 stops throughout the country. The album was released September 16, 2003.
Joining Thursday each night are bands Many Eyes and Rival Schools. What makes this special is that this group of bands toured together during the first War All The Time tour. The trio of bands are comprised of scene legends including Many Eyes vocalist Keith Buckley (formerly As I Lay Dying), Rival Schools vocalist Walter Schreifels (formerly Quicksand and Gorilla Biscuits), Thursday guitarist Norman Brannon (formerly Texas is the Reason), and Steve Pedulla of Thursday is also playing guitar for Rival Schools.
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Walter Schreifels
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Norman Brannon
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Keith Buckley
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Steve Pedulla
War All The Time is a journey through the raw, harsh topics of relationships, love, loss, identity, spirituality, and war. It is dark yet redeeming.
Experiencing the album performed live stirs a surreal combination of emotions. The 75 minute serenade is an opportunity to scream along with lead singer Geoff Rickly as we pause our lives to journey through this timeless masterpiece. Each song is an outlet for emotion, our resounding notes a choir of desperation, and a reminder that we are not alone.
The show opens with Geoff rocking back and forth, building momentum, as he launches forward approaching the crowd, microphone held towards the sky - “Falling from the top floor your lungs fill like parachutes” where the emotion and energy never fades. The night of our lives has begun. Each song is performed in the order of the discography.
The entire set is a non-stop highlight reel with my favorites including:
Making the X during “Division St." while screaming - “I drew an X on your city’s name, lights out, black out, blow out the candle again”.
Leading into "Signals Over The Air", Geoff highlights it as a song about our unalienable rights for identity and reproductive political injustices.
The crowd yelling “this is a war” at the beginning of Marches and Maneuvers.
The haunting acappella words from “This song brought to you by a falling bomb” echoes throughout the venue leaving chills from the sharp contrast of vocal beauty yet finite words.
Geoff raising the microphone towards the crowd during "War All the Time”.
Wrapping up the War All the Time set with a crowd favorite - “Jet Black New Year”.
Thursday proceeds to deliver three encore songs - "Cross Out The Eyes" (Full Collapse), "Beyond the Visible Spectrum" (Common Existence), and closing out the celebration with signature microphone swinging to "Understanding in a Car Crash" (Full Collapse).
Geoff never misses an opportunity to make his voice heard, using the stage as a platform for love and acceptance while enforcing the importance of action and activism to bring positive change and justice for us as humans.
He was wearing a shirt with a powerful message from David Wojnarowicz - American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist.
It stated - “The Body - In most areas of the U.S.A. it is possible to murder a man & when one is brought to trial, one has only to say that the victim was a queer & that he tried to touch you & the courts will set you free. When I read the newspaper article I felt something stirring in my hands; I felt a sensation like seeing oneself from miles above the earth or looking at one’s reflection in a mirror through the wrong end of a telescope. Realizing that I have nothing left to lose in my actions I let my hands become weapons, my teeth become weapons, every bone & muscle & fiber & ounce of blood become weapons, & I feel prepared for the rest of my life".
Let us all learn to love better, fight injustice, and those with a voice, to never become lukewarm, stagnant, and comfortable.
At the end of the set, it is clear that the entire band has held nothing back. The night has been a celebration, a memory that will not be forgotten!
Thank you Thursday for sharing your journey with us!
